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Feds shut down trucking company tied to immigrant smuggling case

Federal safety regulators have shut down the troubled Iowa trucking company that owned the semitrailer involved in a human trafficking case in which 10 immigrants died in Texas.

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Updated: 1:29 PM EDT Oct 12, 2017

Feds shut down trucking company tied to immigrant smuggling case

Federal safety regulators have shut down the troubled Iowa trucking company that owned the semitrailer involved in a human trafficking case in which 10 immigrants died in Texas.

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Updated: 1:29 PM EDT Oct 12, 2017

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WEBVTT Pyle Transportation in the tiny northwest Iowa town of Shalleris defending itself tonight.Owner Brian Pyle didn't want to show his face on camera ... But says he and his family ownedcompany had nothing to do withsmuggling immigrants. <IT WASN'T MY TRAILER. THE TRAILER WAS SOLD.IF I WOULD HAVE TAKEN THAT NAME OFF, MY NAME OFF THE SIDE OF THETRAILER, YOU GUYS WOULN'T BESTANDING HERE TODAY. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.> James Bradley - the truck driver nowfacing federal charges - was an independent contractor accordingto Pyle. Meaning Pyle had limited interaction with him andonly carried the insurance on his truck.<HE WAS ALL ONHIS OWN. BOUGHT HIS OWN FUEL. MADE HIS OWN DECISIONS. HE DIDEVERYTHING.><WHEN WEHEAR A STORY LIKE THIS, WE AREHEARTBROKEN AS AN INDUSTRYBECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE NORM.> Brenda Neville, President and CEO of the Iowa Motor Truck Association says the trucking industry is highly regulated -at the state and federal level -to make sure crimes like this don't occur.<TRAILERS HAVETO BE SEALED. THEY HAVE TO BE CHECKED. SO THERE IS A LOT OF THINGS THAT ARE IN PLACE. INTHIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE IT SEEMS LIKE ALL THOSE PROTOCOLSAND ALL THOSE CHECKPOINTS FAILEDAT SO MANY LEVELS.> Now someLatino advocates are calling on the state to investigate Pyle Transportation. <I WOULD HOPE THEY'RE IN THAT TRUCKING CO TODAY...DEMAND ING RECORDS, PULLING FILES, LOOKING AT DRIVER'S LOGS TO FIND OUT WHERE THE DRIVER WAS.> Pyle says it's doing its own investigation ... Because Bradley was supposed to be driving from Shaller, Iowa toBrownsville Texas ... And never should have been in this SanAntonio Walmart parking lot.<I NEVER WOULDHAVE PREDICTED HE WOULD DO THIS.NEVER. HONESTLY HE WAS A NICE GUY.>

Feds shut down trucking company tied to immigrant smuggling case

Federal safety regulators have shut down the troubled Iowa trucking company that owned the semitrailer involved in a human trafficking case in which 10 immigrants died in Texas.

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Updated: 1:29 PM EDT Oct 12, 2017

IOWA CITY, Iowa —

Federal safety regulators have shut down the troubled Iowa trucking company that owned the semitrailer involved in a human trafficking case in which 10 immigrants died in Texas.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration placed Pyle Transportation in Schaller, Iowa under an "out-of-service order" Monday after a review found the company's safety rating was unsatisfactory.

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Dozens of immigrants were found packed inside a Pyle-branded semitrailer in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walmart in July. Eight people were found dead inside, and two more died after being hospitalized.

Pyle Transportation owner Brian Pyle has denied knowledge of the alleged human smuggling conspiracy. He has said that he sold the trailer and hired a contractor to drive it to Brownsville, Texas, to deliver it to the buyer.